1ºBarry Brooks it's not just China! When will people realize that the world is massively interconnected? You would think after the pandemic and all the supply issues we saw across the globe people would recognize this, but nope. Canada produces a lot of our lumber, china does many building items, Korea manufactures tons of electronics, and then you have a ton of companies and intermediaries in between who are responsible for shipping and delivering it all. China isn't and has never been afraid of America no matter the president because they realize they have 10 times the people and manufacturer so many of the worlds products. In America it's a lot of corporate greed. The oil companies are taking in massive profits while the people suffer. I. 2008 a barrel of oil was $116/ barrel and gas was $3.51. We sit here today with oil at $115/barrel and gas at $5.01! This isn't a china issue, it's a greed issue. Their response is, "well we lost money during the pandemic" acting as if everyone else didn't as well and that's why they're making it up. Fed raising the rates so drastically is to put the brakes on the economy to make it pull back. Meaning home prices to come back down to earth. Then by the end of the year they will start dropping rates again slowly to get purchasing going again. This is good in the long term, but seems bad in the short term.bgice it a few months to level off.
2ºJosé Antonio
To those that say, "the president doesn't set the gas prices “ or place the blame on other countries, here’s basic information. Yes corporate greed is real. The feds create loopholes for reasons .
1. There is enough recoverable crude oil within the continental US to supply current and projected future demand for 400+ years, and that's just the oil we know about. It doesn't account for future discoveries.
2. We do not need to import a SINGLE DROP of foreign crude oil. The domestic oil industry can easily meet, and even surpass domestic demand. We've done it before, and we can do it again.
3. The domestic oil industry currently cannot satisfy domestic demand due to oil drilling restrictions imposed by the federal government.
4. The price of EVERYTHING revolves around oil, and the law of supply vs demand dictates the price of oil. When oil is plentiful, commodities are cheap. When oil is scarce, commodities are more expensive. Right now, domestic oil is scarce, and the price of everything is high because of these restrictions imposed by the federal government.
5. We import foreign oil from countries that drill and produce it much cheaper than we're able to because they do not implement all of the environmental safeguards that we do. Their methods are FAR more destructive to the environment than ours are.
6. Every year, the federal government leases tracts of land to oil companies so they can explore on it for oil. If enough oil is found during exploration, the company can then apply for a drilling permit which allows them to drill a well. If no oil is found during exploration, or if the amount found is not enough to be profitable the lease expires without ever being drilled on. Leases that are active, but not being drilled on does NOT mean that oil companies are being lazy, or are trying to keep the oil for themselves, etc. etc. It means they've either explored the lease for oil and found nothing, or found oil but it's not enough to justify drilling for.
7. it’s not Russia's fault, or China's fault, or Ukraine, or India, or Venezuela, or Iran, or Bangladesh, or any other countries' fault as to why everything is so expensive right now. It's Joe Biden's fault, because he is suppressing the domestic oil industry for political gain.
EVERYTHING depends on crude oil... but you might not know that if you believe the lies that are being told about oil and the oil industry.
3ºJay O'neal I don’t have the answer , but I know where the inflation came from . When trump came in office he cut taxes mostly for the rich but the middle class received help also . The Stock Market loves tax cuts , so at this point what was required would be a 1/4 point Increase in interest rates . This would Stave Off any chance of inflation . But it Didn’t happen , what happened was the trump administration Cut Interest rates by a full 1/2 a point to leave the rates at 0.0 or the cut may have been more . I understand trumps Theory , with a Booming economy would pay for the tax cut . But the Stage was set for Run Away inflation , all that was needed was a Catalyst . We all know what that would be , the Pandemic , the shut down was needed but would add to the inflation . With Run Away inflation the first thing Biden should have done was raise the interest rates . Now the Sanctions on Russia , needed to be done but would increase the gas prices . So raising the interest rates now is good for now .
4ºCarl Braxton he defined energy independent as exporting more petroleum than we import. We still export more than we import. Oil production had increased every year since about 2000 until the recession hit in trumps last year in office. Oil exports have increased every year, setting a new record every year since 2000 ad continue to increase during the recession. This year we are on track to set another record.
When the recession hit, under trump, in 2020, crude prices plummeted. Many small US producers and drillers simply went out of business.
Unfortunately trump did not include an end to the agreement for when the economy picked back up and OPEC decided to stick to it until the end this July.
Unlike OPEC nations and Russia, the president can not dictate US production levels or import/export amounts. Since Biden has been in office US oil production has increased every month but has not been fast enough to keep up with demand increased. The price of oil is set in the world market place and US oil companies make decisions on importing and exporting based upon what makes the most profit for them
5ºBrian Keir it was the perfect storm that did this. Covid caused demand for oil to plumet. So production slowed and oil companies were not seeing bigger profits. To keep people employed both administrations pumped extra money into the economy to keep people employed and afloat. Since people where not traveling that money was used to buy commodities and push prices up. The economies opened back up and big oil did not ramp up production as to make up for lost profits. Combined with Russia oil embargoes in Europe, Oil jumped even higher trickling down to higher prices for everything on top of increased demand. We didn't use Russian oil much, but Europe did and now the pool where we get oil just got a lot more crowded. There needs be a production act to get more oil in the short term and yes I know the far left will resist this regardless.
6º6% is about what I paid starting out in 1987 It was 18-19% when my parents bought their home. Granted homes were cheaper than but we also made less. I find people live beyond their means now. They want it all. Growing up my parents had 7children and we never ever had a car. Having a car is a luxury and is very expensive to own and maintain. People complain about making ends meet but can afford tickets to concerts, sports events, going to movies and such. People always find money for gambling , alcohol , cigarettes. Junk food . There are things people can cut out to make things easier. Pleasant NO absolutely not. But what is most important is a roof over your head and food in your stomach and utility bills paid. All the other stuff is to make life more pleasurable. I firmly believe it will get worse before it gets better. It is all about choices.
7ºTony Peterson remember those gas lines and gas every other day?. Interest rates have been almost rock bottom for a very long time when we bought our first home in Calif. In 1982 we had a buy down mortgage of 12% in 1980 we had to purchase a small used mobile home. CD rates were very high so if you had money in the bank you did well unlike today seniors with no pensions are in a world of hurt.Taking money out of your house and blowing funds on cars or trips will come back to haunt you. Paying more than a house is worth is not smart , the bank wants that money when you sell it at a loss. Take responsibility.
8ºI’m a millennial and I’ve bought houses when the rates were both higher and lower than current rates. No one ever said rates would stay historically low. I’m in the market for another home now and will be closing on it next month. I’ll be paying more than I’d pay a year ago, but I’ll also be writing the extra interest off on my taxes. It’s not the horrible gloom and doom many people are making it out to be. I’ll simply cut out a few extra coffees and nail appointments. I want a house so I’ll make it my priority and give up less important wants.
9ºPowell & Janet Yellen need to seriously reconsider this move when it comes to raising interest rates. It's not going too slow inflation on small ticket items! It just won't as we consider where inflation comes from within the past couple years.
In my opinion we have Jeff Bezos to thank for prompting overdue increase in wages across-the-board to something more of a living standard. By doing so the increase in manufacturing cost or "production" is just transferred over on to the consumer. So if you leave things alone you stand more of a chance of inflation being nothing more than an adjustment to what already was and that is the American Worker has less purchasing power with their money. Raising interest rates on the American dream and other big-ticket items is not the answer. I can feel it.
10ºErnie Orsino The hypocrisy is being too lazy to make any effort to understand simple economics or cause and effect. Inflation didn’t suddenly happen because Biden took office. Inflation takes years to happen - poor policy decisions, accumulation of debt. The world went through a pandemic where we were stuck at home, not shopping, many not working. Manufacturing and production of everything dropped. When the world reopened, people went nuts squandering money instead of being cautious. We couldn’t get manufacturing rebooted fast enough or goods distributed. Blaming Biden shows you have no clue or don’t care. The people who voted for a failed amoral businessman with a history of repeated bankruptcies are largely responsible for the current situation we are now in. Repugs promise handouts to get re-elected which only benefit the wealthy. They just add these handouts to the mounting debt leaving a mess for a Democratic administration to fix. Dems work on fixes pulling a weighty sled up a mountain with Repugs whining, complaining, blaming and obstructing all the way.